Jelly Bean jumps to 1.2% and ICS hits 21%

It's that time of the month again folks. It's time to check in on the platform version distribution for Android and see how the updates are going. This month didn't have that big of a change overall from what we saw last month though. Last month was a big one in which Ice Cream Sandwich more than doubled its share.

The best we can say this month is that Jelly Bean is up 50% from last month, going from .8% to 1.2%. That's the difference of just 2.23 million devices (based on Eric Schmidt's Android ecosystem numbers). 1.2% of 480 million devices is 5.76, and .8% of last month's total (480 million minus 39 million (based on 1.3 million per day)) is 3.53 million. Nothing much there since all of that shift is mostly sales of JB devices, rather than updates except for a few Asus tablets.

Since last month, ICS bumped from 15.9% to 20.8%, and Gingerbread and Froyo both dropped slightly. Gingerbread is down from 60.6% to 57.2%, and Froyo is down from 15.5% to 14%.

There aren't any big devices expected this month, so we wouldn't really expect the numbers to move much until October.

Pssh, 1.2% is so mainstream. I'd kill to be part of the 0.2% Cupcake-crowd!

On a semi-related note, I just saw somewhere that the first two versions of Android were apparently called Astro and Bender. I really wish they continued this trend of famous robots instead of desserts.

The dessert names are friendlier. They get people to laugh and actually pay attention to version names. It's so much easier to talk to customers about software versions when they're named after something silly, harmless and relatable.

Customers are very cagey people. A lot of them are fundamentally scared of tech, especially when they feel it lacks a more human element. Believe it or not, a simple little thing like naming software after a sugary snack is a great way to add that human element.

Hell, Android itself is sci fi enough and scary as it is. The general public is going to think of scary s**t like Terminators when they hear "Android." Why do you think the Android mascot is cutesy instead of badass?

Don't forget though that Verizon's Droid series is marketed as a cold, ruthless, monotone-voiced, red-eyed killing-machine whose chilling, emotionless wail of "DROOOOOIIIIDDDDD" is enough to strike fear into the most valiant of Jedi Knights, and yet it's been one of the top-selling smartphone brands.

Also, kids take them camping and women call taxis on them, unaware of their impending doom.

The SGS2 and SGS3 have gotten/getting updates at any moment. Its up to the carriers to push it. blame them. Unnoficial leaks have been coming from Samsung for quite some time showing they are ready. They have to have carrier permission to push.

The disparity between the android os versions are ridiculous. Google really needs to do something about this. Its 2012 and manufacturers are still releasing Android Gingerbread phone. Their OS update cycle doesn't even have a yearly pattern. ICS came out October 2011 and Jelly Bean came out July 2012. They should move into a yearly update cycle so it gives manufacturers times to upgrade.

The Wifi only Xoom got ICS literally a month after the update was released. It's now rocking JB.

The Verizon Xoom finally got it in JUNE.

The SGS2 variants didn't start getting ICS in the States until the SGS3 came out.

If anything, Google needs to negotiate with the carriers to get them to stop d**king around with the update cycle.

And the only manufacturer to release a GB phone in the last couple of months on a major carrier was Sony, with the Xperia Ion. Everyone else has been releasing ICS phones for the last several months, starting with HTC and the One series in May.

Oh and also it's the people who want to hang onto their phones a lot longer.

I mean, look at the numbers for Cupcake and Donut. That's over two million people who are holding onto devices that stopped being sold in phones over two years ago. At this point they have no excuse; they can walk into a store at any time and pick up a decent newer phone for less than a hundred.

Also, Eclair. I mean, that's 17 million people who are, once again, holding onto phones that are way past their upgrade cycle.

Some people on Froyo still have an excuse, but again, you have almost twenty million people right now who can walk in at any time and just get a new device with much newer software. That's all that's needed to make ICS numbers jump another 5 percent.

And in about 5 or 6 months anyone on Froyo will be out of excuses as well. Ten percent, just by the fact that phones will either be at or past their upgrade due date. But there are people who will simply hang onto phones until they die for good. I should know. My parents are two of them. My mom still uses a nearly decade old Nokia candybar phone. My dad will use my old Droid X until it croaks, which it still hasn't after two years of use.

You can't force people to upgrade/update unless you're Apple. That's the nature (and the beauty) of the free market.

And really, if you think Android has it bad, just take a look at Windows. There are plenty of people out there still using XP, for crying out frickin' loud.

I totally agree with you about a person uses a phone until it breaks because almost all friends have flip phones from 2008 while the rest have the newest or 4th gen Iphone. I mean even my dad is still rocking the i860 on nextel from 2004 and dosn't plan to upgrade until nextel will totally shut down next year.

These numbers aren't too bad overall. A 3.4 percent drop on Gingerbread coinciding with a rise in ICS numbers indicates that a large chunk of its gain was due to updates from GB phones. That 3.4 percent translates to 16.32 million, by the way.

And 1 out of every five phones rocking ICS isn't too shabby, considering what a huge update it was, and also that a lot of Android's growth came from last year, the first year it actually really pulled ahead of iOS.

This time two years ago (in the upgrade cycle) was when the original Galaxy S variants were selling in the US, along with the Droid X. People at large still generally believe they have to wait the full two years to upgrade their phones.

We're going to see a large jump in adoption as the next few months go on. The iPhone will be a huge seller during the holidays, because parents buying Christmas presents won't dare buy anything else but an iPhone if that's what their kid asks for, and kids tend to go for the phone they think will make them seem cool. I mean, just look at that Twitter meme from this past year where a bunch of spoiled s**theads cried about how evil their parents were because they didn't get iPads or iPhones.

However, the holiday crop of Android phones will be there, and once the initial hype dies down and people have time to actually pay attention to what they're buying, Android sales will pick up again.

At least it'll go this way unless the Android manufacturers get off their asses and really advertise the s**t out of their phones and make them seem awesome and cool.

To see JB at 1.2% is sicking for the new Android platform. What is says is that Google would rather put the updates in the hands of the carriers. Also it says for every Android device you buy, you are stuck with the carrier's mercy. We won't support you once you buy a device from any carrier. This makes it increasingly difficult to develop a solid ecosystem for fast and timely updates. Technology is a moving target. To see Google become a non supporter of their product is absolutely unacceptable as they would rather be an advocate of the free (open) software push for advertising sales. This will become the demise of Android. As much as like Android and as good as where Android is now and how developed it has become, it will go as far as Google's support. Google needs to step in and become an advocate like Apple and take control of the software updates, but secure freedom for their handset manufacturer's. XDA Developer's/rooting are available and make up less than 5% of Android users, so why should be compelled to have an open system that is beneficial for a small group of customized supporters.

As for iOS the percentages are staggering good! The updates are immediate, timely, and make users happy. Regardless of all of the Apple haters out there on these forums, there are millions of happy customers with iOS devices. Say what you want to say about less features, customers being overcharges, bland styling, slow adaption, non innovators, no customization, they still make a simple phone for the mass of people. They create an eco system that supported worldwide, rather than divide.

Hey broski. Calm down, all right? It's been, like, a month since JB was announced. The S3 is already supposed to be getting it pretty damn soon.

I agree that the carriers are assholes, but don't blame El Goog for that. The carriers are like freaking cartels in this country; they have a TON of power. The US is actually weird like that. I wish Google would find a way to get them to cooperate better myself, but in the meantime I'm not going to punish them by giving up on a platform that works well even in its older versions.

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